Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia , 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya , 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
J Agric Food Chem, 2015 Sep 30;63(38):8349-63.
PMID: 26325225 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b01813

Abstract

Currently, the transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into value-added products such as reducing sugars is garnering attention worldwide. However, efficient hydrolysis is usually hindered by the recalcitrant structure of the biomass. Many pretreatment technologies have been developed to overcome the recalcitrance of lignocellulose such that the components can be reutilized more effectively to enhance sugar recovery. Among all of the utilized pretreatment methods, inorganic salt pretreatment represents a more novel method and offers comparable sugar recovery with the potential for reducing costs. The use of inorganic salt also shows improved performance when it is integrated with other pretreatment technologies. Hence, this paper is aimed to provide a detailed overview of the current situation for lignocellulosic biomass and its physicochemical characteristics. Furthermore, this review discusses some recent studies using inorganic salt for pretreating biomass and the mechanisms involved during the process. Finally, some prospects and challenges using inorganic salt are highlighted.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.